Rollo in Scotland

"Do you know where the booking office is, Mr. George?" said Waldron.

"No," said Mr. George, "but if you look about you will find it."

So Waldron and Rollo ran off to find the office. It was down stairs. Before they came back with the tickets the train was gone.

"It is no matter," said Mr. George. "Indeed, I think it is my fault rather than yours, for it was not distinctly understood that you were to get the tickets. There will be another train pretty soon, I presume. In the mean time I should like to look at these books, and you and Rollo can amuse yourselves about the station."

So Waldron and Rollo went off to see if they could find a time table, in order to learn when the next train would go. They found that there would be another train in an hour. In the mean time it began to rain again, which prevented the party from taking a walk about the town; so they had to amuse themselves at the station as they best could.

There was a refreshment room at the station, and the boys thought at first that it would be a good plan to have something to eat; but, finally, they concluded that they would wait, and have a regular dinner at the coffee room of the hotel. Mr. George left them to decide the question themselves as they thought best.

The hour, however, soon glided away, and at the end of it the party took their seats in the train, and were trundled rapidly along the banks of the river to Glasgow. The road lay through beautiful parks a considerable portion of the way, with glimpses of the water here and there between the trees. The view of the scenery, however, was very much impeded by the falling rain.

Chapter IV.

The Expedition Planned

The boys were very successful in their selection of a hotel, for the Queen's Hotel, in Glasgow, is one of the most comfortable and best managed inns in the kingdom.

The party rode to the inn, in a cab which they took at the station in Glasgow, when the train arrived there, instead of walking, as they had done in going from the boat to the station at Greenock. The boys asked Mr. George's advice on this point, and he said that, though he was unwilling to take any responsibility, he had no objection whatever to giving his advice, whenever they wished for it. So he told them that he thought it was always best to go to a hotel in a carriage of some sort.

"Because," said he, "in England and Scotland,—that is, in all the great towns,—if we come on foot, they think that we are poor, and of no consequence, and so give us the worst rooms, and pay us very little attention."

When the cab arrived at the hotel Waldron said,—

"There, Mr. George, we have brought you safe to the hotel. Now we have nothing more to do. We give up the command to you now."

"Very well," said Mr. George.

Two or three nicely dressed porters and waiters came out from the door of the hotel, to receive the travellers and wait upon them in. The porters took the baggage, even to the coats and umbrellas, and the head waiter led the way into the house. Waldron paid the cabman as he stepped out of the cab. He knew what the fare was, and he had it all ready. Mr. George said to the waiter that he wanted two bedrooms, one with two beds in it. The waiter bowed, with an air of great deference and respect, and said that the chambermaid would show the rooms. The chambermaid, who was a very nice-looking and tidily-dressed young woman, stood at the foot of the stairs, ready to conduct the newly-arrived party up to the chambers. She accordingly led the way, and Mr. George and the boys followed—two neat-looking porters coming behind with the various articles of baggage.

The rooms were very pleasant apartments, situated on the front side of the house, and looking out upon a beautiful square. The square was enclosed in a high iron railing. It was adorned with trees and shrubbery, and intersected here and there with smooth gravel walks. In the centre was a tall Doric column, with a statue on the summit. There were other statues in other parts of the square. One of them was in honor of Watt, who is the great celebrity of Glasgow—so large a share of the prosperity and wealth of the whole region being due so much to his discoveries.

"Now, boys," said Mr. George, "you will find water and every thing in your room. Make yourselves look as nice as a pin, and then go down stairs and find the coffee room. When you have found it, choose a pleasant table, and order dinner. You may order just what you please."

So Mr. George left the boys to themselves, and went into his own room.

In about half an hour Rollo came up and told Mr. George that the dinner was ready. So Mr. George went down into the coffee room, Rollo showing him the way.

Mr. George found that the boys had chosen a very pleasant table indeed for their dinner. It was in a corner, between a window and the fireplace. There was a pleasant coal fire in the fireplace, with screens before it, to keep the glow of it from the faces of the guests. The room was quite large, and there was a long table extending up and down the middle of it, one of which is seen in the engraving. This table was set for dinner or supper. There were other smaller tables for separate parties in the different corners of the room.

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1

The conversation was a discussion, and not a dispute, for it was calm, quiet, and good-tempered throughout. A dispute is an angry discussion.

2

An estuary is a sort of bay, produced by the widening of a river at its mouth. Scotland is remarkable for the estuaries which are formed at the mouths of its rivers. They are called there friths.